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Convicted Molester, 'Super 8' Casting Assistant Arrested

Registered sex offender Jason James Murphy has been working in movie casting for much of the past decade under a different name.

A 35-year-old convicted child sex offender who had been working as a casting director surrendered Friday on charges of failing to inform authorities that he had changed his name and moved.

turned himself in at the after a warrant for $500,000 was issued for his arrest, said Lt. Mary Leef of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. He was released a few hours later, Leef said.

Murphy was convicted in 1996 of kidnapping and molesting an 8-year-old child in Washington, and served five years in prison. Recently he had been working as a casting director, including finding and casting young actors for films Bad News Bears and Super 8.

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Murphy met with investigators at the station on April 22, 2009 and registered as a sex offender as required by law, Leef said.

At that time, Murphy said he lived in West Hollywood and signed forms "advising him that he was responsible to report any change of residence or any name changes or use of an alias as is required by the legislation," Leef said.

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Based on information provided to the sheriff's department by the news media and other law enforcement agencies regarding Murphy's employment activities, an investigation was conducted with detectives confirming Murphy had not been living in West Hollywood, in violation of the law, Leef said.

"Detectives determined Murphy had violated sections of the penal code relating to notification of law enforcement when using an alias and notification of law enforcement when moving out of their jurisdiction," Leef said.

Detectives filed a criminal complaint with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office in Beverly Hills and a warrant for $500,000 was issued, Leef said.

Murphy is scheduled to be in court next on Jan. 18 in the Beverly Hills Courthouse, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

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